Prosecutors charge 3 more officers in George Floyd's death

June 04, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors charged three more police officers Wednesday in the death of George Floyd and filed a new, tougher charge against the officer at the center of the case, delivering a victory to protesters who have filled the streets from coast to coast to fight police brutality and racial injustice.

The most serious charge was filed against Derek Chauvin, who was caught on video pressing his knee to Floyd’s neck and now must defend himself against an accusation of second-degree murder. The three other officers at the scene were charged for the first time with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

All four were fired last week. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to four decades in prison. Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Those charges still stand.

The new second-degree murder charge alleges that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death without intent while committing another felony, namely third-degree assault. It carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, compared with a maximum of 25 years for third-degree murder.

The other officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — face the same maximum penalties for aiding and abetting. All three men were in custody by Wednesday evening. Chauvin was arrested last week and is still being held.

The multiple charges against each officer would offer a jury more options to find them guilty. The charges were sought by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who called the protests unleashed by the death “dramatic and necessary” and said Floyd “should be here and he is not.”

“His life had value, and we will seek justice,” said Ellison, who cautioned that winning convictions would be hard and said that public pressure had no bearing on his decisions. Hundreds of protesters were in New York City's Washington Square Park when the charges were announced.

“It’s not enough,” protester Jonathan Roldan said, insisting all four officers should have been charged from the start. “Right now, we’re still marching because it’s not enough that they got arrested. There needs to be systematic change.”

Ben Crump, an attorney for Floyd’s family, called it “a bittersweet moment” and “a significant step forward on the road to justice.” Crump said Elison had told the family he would continue his investigation into Floyd’s death and upgrade the charge to first-degree murder if warranted.

The move by prosecutors punctuated an unprecedented week in modern American history, in which largely peaceful protests took place in communities of all sizes but were rocked by bouts of violence, including deadly attacks on officers, rampant thefts and arson in some places.

Nationwide, more than 9,000 have been arrested in connection with unrest. At least 12 deaths have been reported, though the circumstances in many cases are still being sorted out. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, speaking after the new charges were announced, said the state and nation need to “seize the moment” and use the wrenching events of the past week to confront the effects of racism, including unequal educational and economic opportunities.

“I think this is probably our last shot, as a state and as a nation, to fix this systemic issue,” he said at a news conference. Also Wednesday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office released the full autopsy report on Floyd, which noted he had previously tested positive for COVID-19, but was apparently asymptomatic. The report was released with the family’s permission after summary findings Monday that said he had a heart attack while being restrained by officers.

President Donald Trump has pushed the nation’s governors to take a hard line against the violence. He again tweeted Wednesday: “LAW & ORDER!” An overpowering security force — including officers from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, the Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Prisons and, according to a senior defense official, at least 2,200 National Guard soldiers — was out in force Wednesday as thousands of peaceful protesters demonstrated in the nation’s capital. Some remained near the White House while others marched toward the Capitol building.

Military vehicles were parked on streets near the White House, and an array of agencies kept watch from the air. An FBI plane, an Army surveillance plane and a Park Police helicopter circled overhead.

At one point near the White House, protesters began singing “Amazing Grace" as they knelt in view of law enforcement officers in riot gear. “We are not going anywhere!” they chanted. There were no signs of confrontations.

Protester Jade Jones, 30, said the demonstrations would continue despite the new charges. "That’s the least they could do,” said Jones, who had been attending Washington protests for days. “It’s not going to wipe away 400 years of pain.”

“We are glad there are additional charges, but that doesn’t mean justice has been served," she said. More than 20,000 National Guard members have been called up in 29 states to deal with the violence.

In New York City, where high-end stores were looted in earlier days, some retailers fortified their property. At the luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue, windows were boarded up, then covered in chain-link fencing and razor wire. The front of the store was guarded by a line of tattooed men with dogs. There was scuffling in some parts of the city Wednesday night, but no signs of major clashes between protesters and police.

The protests have also taken root overseas. In Greece, police fired tear gas after young people attacked them Wednesday outside the U.S. Embassy in Athens. Some 4,000 protesters had been peaceful until near the end of the demonstration, when some threw gasoline bombs and stones at police. No injuries or arrests were reported. Other protests were held Wednesday in London, Helsinki, Rotterdam and Bogota, among other cities.

The anger over Floyd's death has spilled into an array of racial issues across the U.S. In Philadelphia, for example, a statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo was removed by the city Wednesday after repeatedly being targeted by vandals. Rizzo presided over a police force widely accused of racism and brutality in the 1970s.

In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam was expected to announce plans Thursday for the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The statue in the former Confederate capital has been the target of vandalism during the protests.

Associated Press journalists across the U.S. contributed to this report.

Turkey to buy additional S-400 missile defense system from Russia

by Ed Adamczyk
Washington DC (UPI)
Jun 10, 2020

Turkey will purchase an additional Russian-made S-400 air defense system, the head of Turkey's Defense Industries Administration said.

"We have a basic agreement on the supply of the second batch of the Russian S-400 system, and there are some technical issues regarding transport operations," Ismail Demir said in a television interview earlier this week. "Ankara is also interested in proposals to purchase Patriot and Eurosam air defense systems."

A Turkish official said the sale would go on despite production and delivery issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turkey received a loan from Russia to partially finance the $2.5 billion purchase of the S-400 system of ground-to-air armaments. An agreement was signed in December 2017 and the first "Triumf" missiles and missile launchers arrived in Turkey in July 2019.

The deal caused a crisis in U.S.-Turkish relations, with Washington demanding an end to the sale in exchange for the opportunity to purchase American Patriot systems.

The United States also threatened to delay or cancel the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and impose sanctions, but Ankara did not yield to U.S. pressure.

The S-400 missile includes a command and control center capable of coordinating several battalions of troops, a radar detection system and ultra-long-range missiles.

Russia has said that the missiles are designed to destroy aircraft, and cruise and ballistic missiles. It can also be used against ground installations, and can engage targets up to 250 miles away or at an altitude of up to 18 miles.

Source: Space War.
Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Turkey_to_buy_additional_S-400_missile_defense_system_from_Russia_999.html.

New Zealand city removes statue of its 'murderous' namesake

June 12, 2020

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The New Zealand city of Hamilton on Friday removed a bronze statue of the British naval officer for whom it is named — a man who is accused of killing indigenous Maori people in the 1860s.

The removal by city authorities came a day after a Maori tribe asked for the statue be taken down and one Maori elder threatened to tear it down himself. Cities around the world are taking steps to remove statues that represent cultural or racial oppression as support grows for the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police last month in Minneapolis.

Mayor Paula Southgate said a growing number of people found the statue personally and culturally offensive. “We can’t ignore what is happening all over the world and nor should we,” Southgate said. “At a time when we are trying to build tolerance and understanding between cultures and in the community, I don’t think the statue helps us to bridge those gaps.”

The city was originally called Kirikiriroa by Maori. In the 1860s, it was renamed after Captain John Hamilton, a British officer who was killed in the infamous Gate Pa battle in the city of Tauranga. The statue was gifted to the city in 2013. The Waikato-Tainui tribe, or iwi, formally requested on Thursday for it to be removed.

City authorities said it was clear the statue was going to be vandalized, after Maori elder Taitimu Maipi this week told news organization Stuff that he planned to tear it down himself. He said Hamilton was being represented as a hero when he was “murderous” and a “monster.”

City authorities said they have no plans to change the city's name at this point. Southgate told The Associated Press that any potential name change would need to be discussed by the whole council and with Maori leaders, adding that she personally thought the name Kirikiriroa was “particularly beautiful” and often used it in speeches.

She said that before removing the statue, the city had first discussed the idea with the Gallagher family who had donated it, and they were supportive. She said the statue had been placed in storage while discussions about its future continued.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who has Maori heritage, said he was outraged at the "wave of idiocy" over the role of historic statues. “Why do some woke New Zealanders feel the need to mimic mindless actions imported from overseas,” Peters said in a statement. “A self-confident country would never succumb to obliterating symbols of their history, whether it be good or bad or simply gone out of fashion.”

Hamilton is the nation's fourth-largest city with 160,000 people, about one-quarter of whom are Maori. Council Chief Executive Richard Briggs said they were concerned that if the statue was torn out by force, it could damage the underground parking structure below.

“We have been working collaboratively with Waikato-Tainui for more than 12 months on a project to review culturally sensitive place names and sites," Briggs said in a statement. “We understand this work is vitally important in raising awareness to cultural harm which has taken place.”

Other New Zealand statues of historic figures are also coming under scrutiny, including those of British explorer Capt. James Cook.

French chef Ducasse unveils anti-virus air system

June 11, 2020

PARIS (AP) — French celebrity chef Alain Ducasse on Thursday unveiled a novel air ventilation system in one of his smallest Parisian restaurants to try to overcome the distancing restrictions related to the coronavirus.

The system, which has cost 50,000 euros to install at the Allard, on Paris' chic left bank, aims to dramatically reduce the risk of airborne virus transmission using technology from hospitals — with a touch of Parisian style.

Ducasse unveiled the system ahead of a French government announcement later this week on the opening of restaurant interiors to diners, “It’s one of the smallest restaurants in Paris and that’s why we decided to create this system here, as social distancing would make capacity here almost impossible,” Ducasse told The Associated Press.

Using high-tech air filtration devices used in hospitals, a group of inventors conceived of a system of metal pipes, filters and diffusers to slow down the speed of air particles 20 times. That gives time for them to sucked away before they can spread to the next table.

“With this new system, the air in each table is as contained as in an operating theater," Ducasse said. The system means that the restaurant can keep a capacity of 80%, with the aim of making it economically viable to reopen.

“If you’re a virus carrier, the people just beside you will be safe,” said one of the air filtration designers, Arnaud Delloye. The system was tested in a 12-hour experiment to show that air molecules did not pass between tables, as particles were slowed down and whisked away by a suction device from “ventilation mouths” above each diner.

Social distancing measures were seen as a death knell for many smaller restaurants over fears that capacity would be reduced by 50 or 60%. Ducasse’s Allard in the chic Left Bank has been closed since March, and like many eateries in Paris’ narrow cobbled streets there is no outside seating area. Outside areas have been permitted to open since last week in Paris.

The technology is infused with art. Images of air divinities, as well as pigeons and clouds — emblematic of Paris — decorate the filters to prevent a sanitized feel. France’s state health agency INRS has validated the system, saying it “allows a significant reduction in the risk of virus transmission in a restaurant,” and France’s Ecology Minister Brune Poirson attended the launch.

However, Julian W. Tang, of Leicester University Respiratory Sciences department, expressed some skepticism about such systems, saying they still wouldn't prevent transmission between people sitting at the same table.

“Generally, ceiling height indoor ventilation systems will not really affect the air flows between two people sitting at a table talking,” he said. Ducasse said he will wait to see the popularity of the system before he applies it to any other of his 40 restaurants worldwide.

Maria Cheng in London contributed.

Overworked, underpaid Brazil nurses risk lives to care for patients

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (SPX)
Jun 10, 2020

Hans Bossan is 40 hours into his 72-hour work week, but despite his marathon nursing shifts and the pandemic claiming an alarming number of his colleagues' lives in Brazil, he barely looks tired.

Bossan works three jobs to provide for his wife and two-year-old daughter -- at two different hospitals and a mobile emergency unit.

Double and triple shifts like his are not unusual in Brazil, where the average salary for nurses, nursing assistants and health care technicians is just 3,000 reals ($600) a month for a 30- to 44-hour work week.

The coronavirus pandemic, which has thrust health care workers into the spotlight around the world, has in Brazil also highlighted the plight of nurses, who often face bad working conditions and are now getting sick and dying from COVID-19 at a startling rate.

"Nursing was always an overworked profession, and this pandemic has just made things worse," said Bossan, 41.

"We're highly undervalued. Nurses deal directly with patients, with the virus, we're on the front lines of the war. But not everyone realizes that," he told AFP at his home in a poor neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Nurses have been hit particularly hard as Brazil has become the latest epicenter in the pandemic, with 39,680 deaths, behind only the United States and Britain.

Around 18,000 nurses in Brazil have been infected with COVID-19, and at least 181 have died -- among the highest numbers in the world, according to the International Council of Nurses.

Last month, nurses protested in the capital, Brasilia, against the poor working conditions they blame for contributing to their colleagues' deaths.

Brazil accounts for nearly one-third of the 600 deaths among nurses and other health professionals registered worldwide by the International Council of Nurses, though the organization says many countries are not doing enough to track the real number.

- 'Anxiety and depression' -

More than 80 percent of Brazil's 2.3 million nurses are women.

Often they work double and triple shifts caring for patients and then go home to care for their own families -- now with the added worry of infecting them.

"It's a time of great anxiety and depression" for the profession, said Nadia Mattos, vice president of Brazil's Federal Nursing Council (Cofen).

When the initial flood of cases hit Brazil's hospitals, health care workers faced shortages of protective equipment and inadequate training on dealing with the new virus, she said.

Although the situation has improved with time, "we're still getting lots of complaints about lack of protective gear or low-quality equipment," she said.

The council has set up virtual psychological counseling for nurses, available 24 hours a day.

The group has also pushed for years for nurses' minimum salary to be increased to $1,200 a month, double the current average.

- Heroes without capes -

One of Bossan's jobs is in the intensive care unit at Che Guevara Hospital in Marica, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) outside Rio.

Working behind a face shield with a mask underneath, he monitored the constantly beeping machines helping to keep his patients alive.

One of them, 56-year-old Eliane Lima, thanked her health care team from behind her oxygen mask.

"The doctors and nurses are excellent here. They take care of us with a lot of love. It's badly needed in a place like this," she said.

Outside, in the semi-intensive care ward, nurse technician Flavia Menezes summed up her profession thus: "It's the art of caring for people."

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Overworked_underpaid_Brazil_nurses_risk_lives_to_care_for_patients_999.html.

Not set in stone: Statues fall as Europe reexamines its past

June 11, 2020

LONDON (AP) — From Confederate monuments in the United States to statues of British slave traders, memorials erected in honor of historical figures have become a focus of protests around the world. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has sparked a reexamination of rigid injustices and inequalities underpinning many countries' histories that often were exalted in stone or bronze.

A look at some contested monuments across Europe:

BRITAIN

EDWARD COLSTON — The toppling of a statue of the 17th-century slave trader in the port city of Bristol on Sunday reignited debate in Britain about who deserves a permanent public memorial. Colston built a fortune transporting more than 80,000 enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean before leaving his money to charity. His name adorns streets and buildings in Bristol, which was once the U.K.’s biggest port for slave ships. The statue has been pulled out of the harbor where protesters dumped it and will be placed in a museum.

CECIL RHODES -- The Victorian imperialist served as prime minister of the Cape Colony in southern Africa and made a fortune from gold and diamond mines where miners labored in brutal conditions. He was an education benefactor whose legacy includes Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarships for international students. His statue was removed from the University of Cape Town in South Africa in 2015 after students led a “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign. A similar campaign is seeking to remove a statue of Rhodes from Oxford’s Oriel College.

HENRY DUNDAS -- The late 18th-century Scottish politician was responsible for delaying Britain’s abolition of the slave trade by 15 years until 1807. During that time, more than half a million enslaved Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic. Campaigners want his statue removed from atop its column in Edinburgh’s St. Andrew Square. There are also calls to rename Dundas Street, a major thoroughfare in the Canadian city of Toronto.

ROBERT MILLIGAN -- Authorities in London this week removed a statue of Milligan, an 18th-century merchant, who owned two sugar plantations in Jamaica with more than 500 slaves, from its perch in the city’s docklands.

ROBERT BADEN-POWELL — Officials plan to remove a statue of the founder of the Scouts movement from the quayside in Poole, southern England, out of concern it may be a target for protesters. Like many Englishmen of his time, Baden-Powell held racist views. He also expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Authorities in London and many other U.K. cities have announced plans to review all statues, street names and other monuments to see whether they reflect modern values and the country's current diversity. This is sure to lead to fiery debate. Some have called for the removal of statues of WILLIAM GLADSTONE, the reforming 19th-century prime minister whose father was one of the biggest slave-owners in the British West Indies. Gladstone defended slave owners and sought compensation for them when slavery was abolished.

Even national hero WINSTON CHURCHILL is a contentious figure. Britain’s wartime prime minister is revered by many in the U.K. as the man who led the country to victory against Nazi Germany. But he was also a staunch defender of the British Empire and expressed racist views.

FRANCE

Several statues have been placed under police protection in France amid protests against monuments to historical figures with links to the country’s colonial past and slavery. JEAN-BAPTISTE COLBERT — Last week, police blocked protesters in Paris from reaching a statue of Colbert in front of the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament. The 17th-century politician, a prominent minister under King Louis XIV, drafted the “Code Noir” (“Black Code”), which regulated the conditions of slavery in French overseas colonies.

JOSEPH GALLIENI — Police in Paris also guarded a statue of French military commander Gallieni. He used brutal methods to quell rebellion of local populations in French colonies. As a late 19th-century governor of Madagascar, he abolished the 350-year-old monarchy on the island.

VICTOR SCHOELCHER — Even before George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, protesters on the French island of Martinique toppled two statues of 19th-century politician Schoelcher on May 22, the anniversary of the abolition of slavery on the Caribbean island. Schoelcher prepared and wrote the 1848 decree abolishing slavery in France’s colonies. But protesters denounced his colonialist views and argued local abolitionists more worthy of honoring. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the statues’ removal, tweeting last month that Schoelcher “has made France great” by abolishing slavery.

SPAIN

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS — Statues of the 15th-century explorer and the Spanish conquistadors who followed him and colonized much of the Americas have become targets for demonstrators in U.S. cities but not in Spain, the country that sponsored Columbus' voyages. Although there has been increasing debate in recent years about Columbus’ legacy, his likeness occupies center-stage in many Spanish cities. A famous statue showing Columbus with his right arm extended and his finger pointing toward the sea stands tall on a column at the bottom of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas boulevard,. In Madrid, a central square named for him features a prominent Columbus statue surrounded by traffic.

In contrast, statues of Columbus in the United States are often vandalized on Columbus Day, which Native American groups have campaigned to rename Indigenous Peoples Day. Columbus memorials have been targeted in the U.S. this week.

GEN. FRANCISCO FRANCO — The legacy of the dictator who ruled Spain for 35 years is still a raw issue that divides the country. Last year, the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez succeeded in removing Franco’s body from a glorifying mausoleum on the outskirts of Madrid where his remains had laid for more than four decades. The remains were moved to a family chapel in a small public cemetery and have not become a focus of right-wing pilgrimages, as some had feared.

ITALY

INDRO MONTANELLI — Monuments to Italy's colonial past in North Africa — including obelisks carted off during the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini that adorn piazzas in Rome — have been largely ignored during protests, but a statue honoring a revered 20th century Italian journalist has attracted calls for its removal. Montanelli, who inspired a generation of Italian reporters, admitted in the late 1960s that he had a 12-year-old Ethiopian bride when he was a soldier during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. He justified his action by saying it was the local custom. The statue, in a Milan park that bears Montanelli's name was mentioned during a weekend Black Lives Matter protest, and an antifascist group called the Sentinels of Milan has called for its removal.

BELGIUM

KING LEOPOLD II — The Belgian monarch who ruled Belgium from 1865 to 1909 held Congo as his personal fiefdom, forcing many of its people into slavery to extract resources for his personal profit. His early rule, starting in 1885, was famous for its brutality, which some experts say left as many as 10 million of Congo's people dead. Statues of Leopold dot towns and cities across Belgium, but a growing movement wants him removed from public view. Statues of Leopold have been defaced in half a dozen cities in the past week. In Antwerp, authorities removed a statue that had been burned and splattered with red paint. It is unclear whether it will be re-erected.

THE NETHERLANDS

JAN PIETERSZOON COEN -- A statue of the Dutch Golden Age trader and brutal colonialist in his hometown of Hoorn, north of Amsterdam, has been the subject of debate for years. Coen was a leading figure in the Dutch East India Company, a 17th-century trading powerhouse, and is credited with founding Batavia, the city now known as Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. But he also has gone down in history as the “butcher of Banda,” the man who ordered a bloody massacre on the Banda Islands in what is now Indonesia as a way of cornering the lucrative market for nutmeg and mace.

A plaque on the statue highlights both sides of his story. The text says Coen was “praised as a vigorous and visionary administrator,” but was also “criticized for the violent means by which he built up trade monopolies in the East Indies.” In 2012, the Westfries Museum that overlooks the statue held an exhibition dedicated to Coen, asking visitors to decide whether the statue should stay or go. Two-thirds of the 3,500 visitor votes were in favor of the statue staying.

Museum director Ad Geerdink said if Hoon political leaders decide to take down the statue, the Westfries would be happy to place it in its garden “not to honor Coen, but to put it into context.”

Associated Press Writers Danica Kirka in London, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Mike Corder in The Hague and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed.

Turkey grants increased powers to neighborhood watchmen

June 11, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s parliament on Thursday approved a contentious government-proposed bill that will grant neighborhood watchmen powers that are almost on par with the country’s police force.

The bill passed overnight with backing from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party and its nationalist ally, despite opposition parties’ concerns that the legislation empowers an under-qualified force and will lead to human rights violations and a further erosion of freedoms.

It was approved after days of tense debate that culminated in violence Tuesday, with an opposition legislator saying he was punched by a lawmaker from the nationalist party. The watchmen, known as “bekci,” traditionally guarded neighborhoods and parks and were armed only with batons and whistles. The force was abolished and folded into the police in 2008, but Erdogan’s government revived it following a failed coup attempt in 2016.

The bill allows the more than 21,000 neighborhood guards — which now also include women — to use firearms, to stop vehicles, carry out ID checks and conduct body searches. The guards cannot arrest or interrogate suspects.

The government and its nationalist ally insist the neighborhood guards meet a need for an auxiliary force to assist police and that the new powers will facilitate police operations. They argue that neighborhoods have become safer since the force was revived.

The main opposition pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and two other opposition parties, voted against the proposal,calling it an attempt by the government to form a loyal militia force. They have also voiced concerns that the force, which operates at night, would act as “morality police” in line with the government’s conservative and religious values.

The opposition argued that recruitment to the neighborhood guards is opaque, and has lead to suspicions that those enrolled are chosen among ruling party supporters. The opposition parties have also criticized the government for prioritizing the security force instead of focusing on unemployment or other negative impacts from the coronavirus outbreak.

“People have lost their jobs and their salaries ... What good is the watchmen to them?” asked pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party legislator Filiz Kerestecioglu. “An under-educated mass that will perhaps act as a morality police is being unleashed on society.”